r/DentalHygiene

Just went to the dentist after not having been for about 2.5 years. I knew going in that I had substantial tartar build up on the inside of my front teeth, and as such they ordered a full mouth debridement. However, the procedure was really just focused on my front, bottom teeth, and took all of 10-15 minutes. Is this common for debridements? From just a bit of googling (I know, I know) it sounds like debridements typically take longer than that. Honestly it just felt like a normal cleaning I used to get at my old dentist, so I’m a bit confused.

Also I was curious if it’s common to need just debridement, and no future procedures, like an SRP? The hygienist said that other than some staining, overall my teeth looked good and they would schedule me for another cleaning in 6 months, which, in my *completely* unprofessional opinion, sounds like they don’t think I have active gum disease, or am I off the mark?

I have to go back in a few weeks to have a couple fillings put in, so I’ll ask more questions then, but just wanted to get some input in the mean time.

Hello and sorry for the long post but... I’m a dental hygienist and I’m doing soul searching; I need your help... A touch of background: I graduated in the Midwest and am now working in California. Due to licensing not being portable for my move, I’ve taken AND PASSED my boards twice in two different regions. I’ve been an RDH for 10 years now and I’ve been with PDS since I graduated. 

I have generalized anxiety and am always questioning the quality of my work. 

I’m always reading about efficacy of using the diode laser, about irrigation with chlorhexidine, about salivary diagnostics, about Arestin. (I’ve come to believe hygiene in a corporate setting leans a lot on science that is not black and white, not settled per se, but is “grey” and could be effective. But that’s another thing to unpack)

What I really want to make sure of is that, at minimum, I’m serving my patients properly during their SRP appointments. 

I see all kinds of questions from patients, online, asking about how long their SRP treatment should take. The general consensus seems to be that it should take between 1-2 hours per half-mouth. 

Let me be level with you all. I do Cetecaine/gingicaine, ultrasonic instrumentation, manual instrumentation, polish/floss, laser, irrigation, fluoride, and sometimes Arestin in an hour for the whole mouth.

I ultrasonic until I cannot see nor feel the buildup I see radiographically or clinically and then I hand instrument until I cannot feel roughness or catches other than anatomy or restorative work. 

I need to know. Am I a bad hygienist?

HOW could I possibly be a good hygienist if my work goes so quickly for 80% of my SRP patients? It would take generalized 6mm and deeper probe depths with heavy Supra/sub calc for me to request 2 and very rarely 4 appointments to complete SRP. 

Am I failing in this basic, critical, duty? All help is welcome, especially if I need a harsh dose of reality…

At my last dental cleaning (October) I got told I had the start of gingivitis — lots of 4s coming up on my teeth cleaning. I’ll admit, I hadn’t been the best with my brushing and flossing. There were a lot of times where I “didn’t have time for it” and would skip. I was using an electric toothbrush and flossing “nightly” (loosely).

I had one round of gingivial therapy done (dentist couldn’t get me in for a second round) and tried Parodontax toothpaste I believe, but I reacted to it — peeling gums, burning pain, so I went back to my usual toothpaste.

Now I go for my 6 month cleaning again today. In the past 6 months I have been strenuous with brushing and flossing. I always take my time with it, haven’t skipped a day.

Lo and behold — my numbers are even worse.

I had gingival therapy done again and will be going back for the second treatment in two weeks. I will likely be using a chlorhexidine rinse. I’ll keep up my brushing and flossing and I will be getting a waterpik as well.

My dentist is considering having me go for cleanings every 3 - 4 months, but they even said today that my teeth were close to perfect (little plaque, tartar) and it was really just my gums in dire need.

They speculated diet and my hormonal birth control pills. I also do wear an OTC mouth guard for teeth grinding.

I’m really frightened and at a loss, trying to do whatever I can to get this under control. I do a lot of other small things too (rinsing with water after having anything acidic + not eating / drinking after my final brush of the night) but I’m really at a loss and frightened.

Thanks to any advice!!

I’m a dental hygienist and my maternity leave is sadly ending soon. I work 3 days a week right now and even though I want to stay home with my 2 babies (3yrs and 3 months) it is not financially possible yet. I am dreading going back, my office is barely giving me pumping breaks in my schedule, and the stress is affecting my mental health a lot. I was nervous after my first baby but this time around I’m drowning in the stress of it differently. I had so much fun on maternity leave spending time with my babies and being present for activities like play dates and library programs. My mental health was so much better away from work so I’m having a hard time going back. Any encouragement would be appreciated

Does this mean I'll probably get cavities all the time now? I brush 3x a day but have been doing it gently from now on. I think the culprit might have been a hard tooth brush. I'm super worried that it's bad and it'll cause cavities and that I'll need to substantially change my diet.

Im considering a career change and this path I usually advertised as being flexible.

Is it realistic to expect to be able to make your own schedule? Or Work 3-4days a week? Do any of you work independently from a doctor ?

What are freelance opportunities like ?

Any seasonal workers here ?

Ideally I want to be able to structure my work around my spouses full time career while having a good chunk of time for myself and family

I’m starting my dental hygiene program in the fall at Bergen community college feeling excited but nervous. What are some things new students should expect? What are some tips to getting through the program?

Please don’t tell me I should switch to a different program or that it’s not worth it!!

I know it is a very hard and stressful process but I am looking for more positive outlooks and suggestions. :)

I have been temping at different offices for about 6 months. I saw first hand that a lot of practices do their patients a “favor” by billing their insurance for a prophy instead of PM, simply justifying it by “their insurance won’t cover a PM”.

My question is: how do you navigate patients like that as a temp? Because I feel like it’s a much deeper issue within the office that would do that. As a hygienist, complying with this is unethical and just wrong and puts my license at risk, but also fighting with the FD and the dentist over not seeing that patient because it’s wrong also feels very confrontational and extra so to say for a temp.

Please help me figure this out!

I have had gingivitis for many years and it was only today that I realized I'm not supposed to rinse my mouth after brushing. However, I've tried keeping the toothpaste in my mouth, but the continuous chemical taste forced me to rinse it out. I'm trying to improve my dental hygiene because I haven't taken it seriously for most of my life and it's affected my oral health. Moreover, I have ugly yellow teeth, and I want to know what's a good remedy for making it whiter. I do floss every night by the way.

Hi, I'm 21 and not been at the dentist since I was 12 or 13 (yeah I know don't flame me too hard) and two weeks ago I finally got a check up and a scale and polish done (which took 30 mins) and I was recommended to get a root planing or deep clean for my periodontitis which was described as fast progressing but I only had a small amount of bone loss.

Today I went and done half my mouth and it only took them 25 minutes and from what I read it would take 45 mins to an hour each quarter but it was 25 minutes for both.

The dentist is a highly rated one so I might be naive to think I'm not getting scammed here.

It costs 150 per quadrant and I paid 300 today for 2 of them done. I'm not sure if it was that fast since I already had a cleaning 2 weeks ago but even thinking back to that after 8 or 9 years of no cleaning it should surely take longer than 30 minutes on just the scale and polish

Thank you for any advice.

Hey dear dentists,

I have been dating my ex, for 3 years on and off. During this time, we spent 1 year together, and then had a break, and got back together for 4 more months. He has really bad dental hygine. I overlooked it because I always had great teeth which did not need much care.

However, after this first year, I noticed my teeth looked really stained, especially between the lower teeth. And I started to go get professional cleanings, only for the staining to return whithin a few days.

I have always drank coffee, so that did not change. This has been going on for around 2 years now, I get cleanings 2 per year, and ever since I started to floss and dilute my coffee with more milk (recently swapped it with matcha) it is way better. But the staining still came back every time.

I use flouride, I floss every evening, I brush twice per day very gently.

Could I ever get rid of his bacterias? What can I do? I miss my perfect teeth!

Help would be appreciated!

I brush twice a day and try to floss regularly, but I still feel like I could be doing more when it comes to keeping my teeth really clean and healthy. Do you use mouthwash, water flossers, tongue scrapers, or anything else that actually helps? Just curious what everyone’s daily routine looks like and if there are any habits or products you swear by.

Hi everyone! Last week i started this teeth whitening kit the gel kind. since starting i noticed my teeth are lightening up but there is a more noticeable line on my teeth that is way lighter than the other surface of my teeth. My dentist told me to put a line of gel on the mold of my teeth then put it in my mouth and sleep in it. Should i instead spread the gel on each mold of my teeth to rid the whiter line? any help would be appreciated this is my first time ever doing any type of whitening

I HATE flossing. The floss sometimes pinches the corners of my mouth, causing injury and sometimes leading to cold sores. I know flossing is important, but I just hate it.

I’ve started using the flexible GUM picks that are extra long. They have tiny rubber bristles on the ends and can reach all the way to between my back molars.

Nothing compares to flossing, but are these rubber pucks an adequate alternative?

We're a small private practice in Homer, Alaska struggling to recruit RDHs and I genuinely don't know what we're missing — would love honest feedback from hygienists on what would actually make Alaska worth considering